Aeriel, my girlfriend, has been cutting her coffee intake lately.
Yes.
I didn’t know that’s something a person can do…
Kidding.
I think she mentioned it’s for health reasons? I honestly forgot why.
But it’s been weeks since she started this, so it would be a little awkward to ask now.
Anyway, because of these ‘lifestyle’ changes, she’s been drinking milk instead.
You know, to replace her coffee.
After all, she’ll always be a beverage girl. Life is incomplete without a drink in her hands.
🥤
That’s why when we were at the grocery store last weekend, I showed her this powdered milk that says “PROTEIN+” on the package.
It attracted me like a light, and I’m a moth.
See, I’m tryna lose some belly recently so I checked the nutritional facts on the back.
And according to my super quick computation…
… it has double the amount of protein compared to my go-to milk.
I instinctively called Aeriel from the next aisle and showed it to her.
She’s the one looking for milk.
Thought she might be interested as well.
And after a little bit of mental math (to check if my protein comparison was correct), she put it in the cart.
I was right. It has way more protein.
Then the next morning, she messaged me.
“DI MASARAP!”
I was like,
“🤔”
I had no idea what she was talking about…
“Yung protein milk! Matabang tapos lasang grain”
Oh right… The milk.
It’s not a match.
She gave the pack to me.
Which brings us this morning, when I prepared a glass for breakfast.
…
…
Yuck.
It did taste like grains.
I wasn’t even sure if I could call it milk.
I mean, it looks like one.
And on paper, it even looked like the superior kind.
But man, I didn’t give a damn after tasting it.
See, that’s a problem.
When you think you’re doing it the right way because you’re giving all the juice to the people and you’re ticking all the boxes…
… The question now is:
How did you make them feel?
Did they end up caring about you more after they experienced what you brought to the table?
Or was it the opposite?
🙄
You know, you can ask the same questions in your email marketing.
You might think that you’re doing it right — you make people buy from all those flash sales.
So you keep on doing it to squeeze more money from your list.
But how do they see you now?
Is there any trust built, or are you just training them to wait for another sale before they even bother to open your email?
See, that’s important.
Because great email marketing isn’t about getting all the sales.
It’s a long game.
If every email is just another sale or another “check this out…”
… they’ll stop listening unless there’s a price slash attached to it.
You can’t build loyalty that way.
But when your emails feel good to read?
when they entertain, share a story, or give an idea worth remembering?
Then you’re getting something more than just a sale.
You can’t just slap in “more protein” in your milk formula and expect people to make you their new go-to.
I still want that familiar taste.
Because no amount of nutritional facts can save something people don’t enjoy.
Just like no amount of “20% off” can save a brand that people end up not caring about.
I talked about how to remedy that bad email habit on Campaign Test Drive.
Learn more about it here: